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ADVICE RATING
 (Highly recommend) (Highly recommend) (Highly recommend) (Highly recommend) (Highly recommend) 4.73 (Highly recommend) from 95 votes (3908 Visits)

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

Izzy by Izzy Minti Founder(August 2006) (rank 6th)

Last night, I attended a 3 hour seminar on “Protecting God’s Children” at my church. This is required for all volunteers/workers who have contact with children. During the class, we saw a video in which 3 victims and 2 offenders were interviewed. One of the offender’s

preferred victims were children between the age of 5 and 10 years old. This instantly got my mind 3 ½ years into the future and imagine my son in this situation. I’m horrified, saddened, shocked, and this got me taking notes during the presentation fully intending to share the information with you all – the Minti community.

This subject is also something that hits close to home. I was almost abused in my teens. I was touched, but unlike the children on the videos I saw last night, I didn’t “shut down”.  My mind flew into action and I stopped it.

SOME FACTS:

  • Sexual offenders are often known to the family, and not strangers. Abusers can be a man, a woman, or even a child - yes, a child. The offender on the video started sexually abusing others at the age of 10.
  • Sexual offenders are not homosexuals. Do not let your guard down because someone is not gay, vice versa, do not accuse someone just because he/she is gay.
  • Children do not lie about being sexually abused.
  • Only 5% of kids lie about the abuse, which means 95% are true.

 

STEPS TO PREVENT SEXUAL ABUSE

1. Know the Warning Signs

Look for signs that someone may be an offender. In cases of reported sexual abuse, some parents step forward and say, yes, they knew there was something wrong with him/her. So what are some of these signs?

·         Likes spending time with children all the time.

·         More comfortable with children than adults.

·         Discourages other adults from getting involved.

·         Keeps children alone.

·         Excessive touching (tickling/wrestling).

·         Gives gifts without the parents’ permission and gives gifts that are often prohibited by the parents. (e.g. video games).

·         Showing/providing pornographic materials to children.

NOTE that any ONE of these signs may be apparent and will not likely indicate that a person is a likely abuser. These signs should be looked at together. We do not want to be out there on a witch-hunt.

2. Control Access

Be aware of the people that have access to your children. Get to know the teachers at school, the volunteers in the church nursery, the sports coaches, family friends. Talk to them. Often times, parents get a nagging feeling about someone and this may be enough of a trigger for you to check more on that person.

3. Monitor Activities Involving Children

What this means is that as a parent, make sure that there are always 2 unrelated adults in any of your children’s activities. Sexual abuse occur in privacy.  If there is never an opportunity for a child to be alone with an adult, then there is no opportunity for the sexual abuse. If your child is going to a field trip, there should be more than 1 adult at all times.  One of the sexual offenders on the video shown during the seminar said that he used to be a softball coach. And that most parents just dropped the kids off leaving him alone with the children. He also mentioned that he kept an album full of kid’s pictures and only 1 parent asked for the negatives of his/her child’s pictures.

It is important to get to know the people that have access to our children. Sometimes a simple 5 minute chat on a few of the activities are often enough to get an impression.

4. Be Aware

Be aware of what going on with our children: know where they are, who they’re with. Talk and most importantly, listen. Sometimes it’s not what the children say, but how they say things that may alert us to something that is wrong. Some children don’t talk, so it’s important in this case to watch body language.

For young children, teach them about their body parts (with proper names). Teach them that the body parts that are covered by bathing suits are covered for a reason – they are private. If someone does touch any of the private parts, to teach the children to say “NO, get away from me” and then run away to tell another adult about it. Sexual offenders “groom” potential victims. This means that they do a little touching and see if the child protests and if the child doesn’t, the offender proceeds to the next step. If the child does protest, the offender will usually move on to the next victim.

5. Communicate Concerns

If we see something inappropriate about a person with contact to children, it is our duty as parents to communicate this concern. Talk to the principal, supervisor…whoever is directly above that person of concern. If we can’t get answers, go up to the next person in the chain of command. A person may not be a sexual offender, giving the information to professionals will allow them to investigate for themselves.

In the U.S., there are mandated reporters – this means that doctors, teachers, certain child care providers are required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse. They do not have to be able to prove the abuse.

NOTE: All the information here is from my own notes. My note-taking ability is not the best, so please visit the external links I’ve provided below for more information.

Copyright © 2006, username: Izzy @ www.minti.com.  All rights in all media reserved.  The content of this article may be forwarded in full without special permission provided it is used for nonprofit purposes and full attribution and copyright notice are given.

Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of Minti.com Pty Ltd. If you are searching for health related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Terms of Service for more details.
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anniebabe
July 6th | anniebabe
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

excellent advice  backed up by external links

annie xxx



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lamb101
June 30th | lamb101
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

thanks for the advise & tips .

i am a past survivor myself so i no it's not so great & it's hard thing to get over it,  it has taken me so long to do so.  

hope this info is of use to many as it really helps to know it.

latas lamb101



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MandyN
November 2008 | MandyN
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

Thankyou for  sharing this information with us... I do feel complelled to bring attention to something you said though. You said that when you were a teen you almost were sexually assulted... I'm sorry to tell you this, but you were sexually assulted, being touched or forced touching of the perpetrator is sexaul assult. Do not think that sexual assult only relates to penetration (oral, anal or vaginal), because it does not. Sexual assault can be in the form of penetration, touching, verbal, exposure to sexually explicit pictures, videos, video games, literature etc... These are all crimes of sexual assault that can tear victims lives apart, and are not to be thought of any other way.

I am speaking form experience myself from being a victim to all of the above, and also one of my children was recently assaulted from forced touching... the police have charged the perpetrator as it is a crime, not almost a crime. I would also like to point out to others, that the offender in my childs case was a 17 year old who is a child of a family member... not all offenders are adults.

Educate your children from a young age to further their chances of not becoming a victim... my child was so brave, and he was so lucky I had drilled it into his head to speak out straight away if anyone, no matter who it was, touched him or made him touch... and he did. Now this teenager will pay for his crime. I was never given the benefit of education or protection from my parents... my life would have been vastly different if I had been given that gift.

Thanks, MandyN



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      Izzy
November 2008 | Izzy
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

I guess I use the word "almost" because what I've gone through as a teen is definitely nowhere near as bad as what others have gone through as well. And perhaps I may use that word because I did something about it. But you're right, it is a form of sexual assault.



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exquisite-flower
September 2008 | exquisite-flower
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

Thank you for taking good notes and sharing with us.  It is a crazy world we live in.  We need to be aware of dangers, and confident in ourselves so we don't become oppressed by "What ifs...?"

Peace
EF.x



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staceymae
September 2008 | staceymae
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

Thank you for sharing this. It is most definately important to know warning signs for abuse.



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tweezas
June 2008 | tweezas
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

i have to say that that was really good to read becuase i was abused but didn't know why it was from who it was and now that i have a child of my own its really good to now to know what i'm watching for it scares me to much to have that happen to my baby no matter how old she gets i still will do my best to protect her thank you. tweezas.



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greenmints
June 2008 | greenmints
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

That is Great advice!



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The-Single-Parent-Bible
May 2008 | The-Single-Parent-Bible
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

Thank you for this.  In this day and age, you have to be aware and careful.



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JustineM
April 2008 | JustineM
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

This is fantastic advice



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      JustineM
April 2008 | JustineM
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse


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robalman
5.00 (Excellent) | April 2008 | robalman
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

It is unfortunate that some people deliberately set out to ruin a childs life by way of sexual abuse.

This is a problem that is far too prevalent in our society and more families have witnessed this than we would even care to know...I am sure the figures would be astonishing.

What you have written here is excellent advice that we as parents should all have access to.

Never say that it will not happen in your family, be armed with the information and what to do with it.

If you find that something is happening to your or another child do not violently take things into your own hands as this sort of action can backfire and your family could end up without you when you are needed most.

My memories alone are enough that I would wish to warn every parent.

It is a truely frightening experience and you should make sure that this can NEVER happen to your dearly beloved innocent children.



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      Izzy
April 2008 | Izzy
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

You're right. No matter how angry and violent we get in this situation, it is best not to take matters into our own hands. This is a situation where we must be careful and do everything legally so as to put the sexual abuser away for good.



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      tweezas
June 2008 | tweezas
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

I agree with robalman that was very well put



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kiwikylie79
5.00 (Excellent) | January 2008 | kiwikylie79
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

i happen to agree with bug5 with the bit abot well writen i personally have been abused and i think that the more ppl out there that know how to protect the kids the more safer they will be well i at least hope as i would NEVER wish something like that on my worse enomy.

kylie



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bug5
5.00 (Excellent) | December 2007 | bug5
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
This article was very well written and so true. we need to recognise the signs of abuse and stop it occurring. Our legal systems does not do anything to protect the victims they protect the offender because they get off with a slap on the wrist. This has been shown in the case of the 10 year old aboriginal girl that was gang raped and her offenders were given suspended sentences. had this been a white child they probably would have got more of a punishment but it still would have been unjust. The legal system needs to be reviewed and these offenders need to be punished appropriately for their crimes not just given a slap on the wrist. While we are not totally going to prevent child sexual abuse we can all do our bit to educate children on the dangers of sexual predators and beaware of what is happening in there life, take time to listen and talk with your children and do not dismiss what they are telling you as lies or ways of getting attention. Yes sometimes it is attention seeking but before you dismiss them at least investigate what you have been told, this one time may not be just for attention it could be a serious cry for help.


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OzBinky
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2007 | OzBinky
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
Great advice Izzy....

Definitely a subject worth writing about...

Cheers
OB


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      robalman
5.00 (Excellent) | April 2008 | robalman
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

This sort of advice is amongst the best I have seen on minti and worth more than the 5 stars.



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itsy
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2007 | itsy
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
The advice about abusers not being strangers is good, abusers often spend months or years 'grooming' and are known to the child and or parents.  I worked with a family who had known the 'couple'  a man and wife for 4 years!
A note on churches -  We had the experience of  being approached by the police and social services, because a member of the church we WERE attending was a known abuser. The vicar defended him saying he did not work with children and he now reformed and was forgiven.  It sounds as if your church takes abuse more seriously.


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allyp
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2007 | allyp
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
I have always been worried about this, whether it happened to my daughter, me or someone else in my family. My husband was almost a victim of sexual abuse but thank god he wasn't.
I've got a question, at what age would I start to tell my daughter about her "vagina"?? Shes 20 months old. And there have been cases here in Canada where there was someone who was sexually abusing a baby.
In my mind, I have no clue as to why they would do such a horrible thing. It NEVER crosses my mind.
That's another reason why my husband will not bathe our daughter or change her diaper often(but will do it, if I ask him or he's taking care of her!).. He just doesn't want to..

You wrote up some excellent advice Izzy. To open our eyes a little more. Really worked for me!


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      Izzy
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2007 | Izzy
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

I've been telling my sound about his penis for a while now, so I suggest starting with Cadence now. What I do is say "I'm cleaning your penis. Only mommy and daddy can touch your here when you are getting cleaned. Don't let anyone else touch it."  I say this while I am bathing him. I don't wait until he responds... I just say it, that way it starts to sink in. Sometimes I also say that if someone touches you there, to make sure say "STOP!" and then to tell me. I even exaggerate and show him to hold his arm up while he says "STOP!". He thinks it's fun.



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Rebecca2
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | Rebecca2
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
That is really great advice Izzy! Thanks a lot


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Libby24
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | Libby24
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
Great Advice Izzy. I have had to live with abuse and watching my Aunty go through sexual abuse. Some times it is hard to tell if your child has been abused as they can hide it very well. My Aunty was 18 when she finally let the cat out of the bag so to speak. And I was there with her helping her, even though I was only 13. I too have been abused and raped and it is something i have kept from family and friends for a very long time.

It is also my biggest fear that someone will do the same to my kids.


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anon
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | anon
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

Excellent work. Thanks for your advice. As a victim of child sexual abuse I wish some one had seen the signs and done something about. Very informative and well written. The more awareness that is created the harder we make it for the offenders to get away with it. Thanks.

KAren



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      Izzy
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | Izzy
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
My heart goes out to you...and to all the children who have gone through this.


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nell18-3
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | nell18-3
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
This is a really great article Izzy on a subject we all need to know about but all hope we never have to deal with
Great writing
xxx


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cazza
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | cazza
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
Have to say this is great and well written, as if we can just get it out there on how to keep our children safe, what a wonderful world it will be for all..

Well done, and thank you....

take care
love cazza


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monyq83
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | monyq83
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

I have marked your article a 5. Very informative, I hope this helps someone.

Lots of love x



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ellamia
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | ellamia
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
Thanks Izzy Great advice sweety. Thanks for sharing. This will help the right people in need of this.

Love Kell


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Domestic-warrior
5.00 (Excellent) | October 2007 | Domestic-warrior
Re: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse
Well done, thanks for sharing this.


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MadMel
5.00 (Excellent) | March 2007 | MadMel
sexual abuse
So important but we need to all remember we can wrap them in cotton wool and be so careful but it can still happen so never blame yourself!


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ethrin
5.00 (Excellent) | March 2007 | ethrin
Child sexual abuse
You know when one has had experience with a child being abused one becomes so cautious with who they play with or stay with and one is always watching for signs when they are in groups of children .It almost becomes a fobia


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kseers
5.00 (Excellent) | March 2007 | kseers
Thought provoking
Thank you for those very practical tips.  While it is very scary it is sooooo important to be aware.  Thanks for sharing that knowledge!


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Naya
5.00 (Excellent) | December 2006 | Naya
My own contribution to ending child abuse!

I was sexually, physically and emotionally abused as a child. The scariest part was I didn't know anything was wrong with my childhood until I became an adult and realized that my childhood was not what it should have been. Kids have no way of knowing what's right and wrong unless they are taught.

I've written a book called You Don't Have To Take It! A Kid's Guide to Understanding & Preventing Child Abuse. Too many times reports of abuse go uninvestigated because there's just not enough evidence, but imagine the impact that can be made if kids are taught about abuse instead of relying on adults to do all the work.

The book defines child abuse and goes through the different types of abuse, how they can tell if they or a friend is being abused, who they can talk to,  and what may happen when the abuse is reported. It's a book that every kid should have. You can read more about it at http://www.lulu.com/lionsongsden.



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Jewelz
4.20 (Good) | December 2006 | Jewelz
A neighbour's child played 'inappropriate games' with my five year old.
The child in question was nine at the time, and a girl. she seemed sweet and innocent, but my son told me about the game she had made him and his friend play with her. I reported it and the police came to interview us and the child concerned. Because of her age she could not be charged. I just hope that the warning scared her enough to never do this with another child. We moved to a better neighbourhood and my children never play unsupervised anymore, even with their freinds.


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      Naya
5.00 (Excellent) | December 2006 | Naya
A neighbour's child played 'inappropriate games' with my five year old.
It's actually quite possible that she was being abused too. She may have been acting out on what the abuser had been doing to her. A child of nine shouldn't know enough about sex to play games like that with another child unless someone is doing it to them.


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Fire-Sprite
December 2006 | Fire-Sprite
Have been there and my child molester was the childrens father

Yes agree with everything you have written thankyou it is refreashing

to see this.  All you have said is very true.

As for the little girl killed here in WA it was done by an opportunist murder and molester.  In fact he is not the norm at all.  The preditor is the person within or a family friend or relation.



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Primal-Fire
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2006 | Primal-Fire
Excellent advice
Very thought provoking!!!! And quite worrying.


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Jessgore
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2006 | Jessgore
Yes most often family members...
Why because they are close and we know them and as children most of us are taught to respect our elders...


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      ethrin
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2006 | ethrin
Yes most often family members...
And this can be as close as a Mother or Father sorry to say


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Practical-Princess
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2006 | Practical-Princess
An abusee
What a great article! I was an abused child, too, and, yes, it was from a family member that noone would think to distrust. I dealt with my abuse by making a box in my mind into which I push any bad memories and lock it. If I feel myself remembering, in my mind I push the memories into the box. It works for me.


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dolphins30
4.50 (Excellent) | October 2006 | dolphins30
Be aware
Great advice in there. I've made note of what i thought was important. Great to read


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bubba76
5.00 (Excellent) | September 2006 | bubba76
hey
As a mother to 4 children l prtotect them like anything now. But you cannot always protect your child when you think they are safe with family members or close friends. l know what it is like to be a parent that has to take a child to cousiling because of something that happened to them and its hard for the child and the paretnts. My two older boys where 2 and 4 years old what it happened to them and it was there own uncle, we did cousiling for nearly 2 years until they told the police it was there go with the kids. They where very good in helping us through it all, as for there uncle he did not get charged and we disowned that side of the family as they said our boys where lieing. By the way you know when kids are not lieing when they say and do things to each other - how kids talk about secrets. Thanks for writng this


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      ethrin
5.00 (Excellent) | March 2007 | ethrin
hey
You know I know how it feels when there is no punishment .My grandaughter was abused by HER MOTHER and removed from that parent but Child safety wouldn' have her charged as they thought at the time it was more important to keep the family relationship open .Now 100'000 dollars court costs &10yearslater (To keep visits Supervised ) The child has not seen justice happen . I cant understand how this can happen .


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jaxsycam
4.50 (Excellent) | September 2006 | jaxsycam
abuse
this is all scary stuff but it is important to be very wary and over protective at times as i was abused at 3 and i remember almost every thing clearly also a few of my friends are in the same boat. it is something my husband and i are going to warn our son about as soon as we think he will understand. always belive children when it comes to things like this how can they make up something like this?. i am petrified of leaving my son at all. you can never be too careful but also remember that if you are just jumping to conclusions you can also ruin relationships with friends, but be aware


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Joeyjo
4.86 (Excellent) | August 2006 | Joeyjo
Thanks

Thanks guys! I will try that again tonight.



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Joeyjo
4.50 (Excellent) | August 2006 | Joeyjo
Questions

I had this talk with my son. When I said, "don't let strangers touch you down there" and other similar phrasings to convey that message in the gentlest and least scary way possible, he asked "why?". To which I replied, "Because it's private". He then asked again, "Why?"

I need some advice - How do you answer this question then? (without going into the whole scary explanation of sexual abuse and such. My boy is only 6)



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      wildrose
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | wildrose
Questions
I always said to my son, any parts in each person's body are special. No one can touch them without asking. Genital is very special that's why we cover it. Only him can touch it, but in circumstance such as if his genital is hurt, he might ask us the parent to have a look, and we might have to touch it. But NO strangers allow to look or touch it. My son understood of the idea of special part. so, have a try.


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      Izzy
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | Izzy
stop, go, tell
I came across a canadian website yesterday (I can't find the website now, sorry) and it teaches the STOP, GO, TELL technique. Tell your child that the body parts covered by bathing suit is very special and private - only mommy or a doctor in the presense of mommy is allowed to touch it. If a bad person wants to touch him, he must always stop it by saying no, and then he must run away and tell a trusted grown up about it.


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           meggles
5.00 (Excellent) | November 2006 | meggles
stop, go, tell
What an excellent article. What shocks me is how common it is. I grew up in a daydream, although my siblings misbehaved I had wonderful parents. I was shocked when I became involved with my sons dad to find he had been abused by an uncle and later by a footy coach when he was young. Although he would never admit it I defintely feel it has had a huge impact on him and his life. My best friend was also abused as a child. As was my niece. Sadly with my neice I saw the warning signs and tried desperately to make her mother see but she refused to believe her husband was doing anything they picked up and moved 400km away. He abused her for the next few years until she tried to kill herself in her middle to late teens. I talk to my son all the time about good touches and bad touchs as sad as it is. you cannot trust people off the cuff anymore.


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michellei
4.50 (Excellent) | August 2006 | michellei
What Age?
I can't remember what age I started telling Olivia about stranger danger & her private parts, but I think it was when she first started crawling.
It may seem young to some, but I like everybody else want to protect my daughter from that danger.
I don't do it all the time, but say maybe once a fortnight I just run through our little talk & she so solemly looks at me & nods.
All I say is: Olivia's girl bits are just for you, if you don't want anybody to touch them you say no & tell Mummy or Daddy. Then I go on to say: Mummy's allowed to touch you girl bits to clean them, Daddy's allowed to touch you girl bits to clean them, Oma & Opa are allowed to touch you girl bits to clean them and if you get sick the doctor is allowed to touch you girl bits& have a look.
I know this works because sometimes I ask to clean her bits & she says no Mummy & I say ok - there is no point in giving her the power to say who is allowed to touch her if I don't respect her decision to say no to me.

Of course when she is older I will use the correct tems and elaborate a bit more, but I think at 22months we are doing fine.


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breezy27
4.50 (Excellent) | August 2006 | breezy27
Scary
Thanks izzy-my little boy is too young for us to explain about this stuff yet, but there is some fantastic information that i can take away. thanks


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Joeyjo
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | Joeyjo
Vigilant

One of my best friends at school was sexually abused by 2 men who lived at her house. She was 5 and her dad had just passed away. Her mum went to work and left her in the care of 2 male boarders. Her mum was probably pretty much in survival mode at that time but this willingness to "hope for the best" also opened the child to the worst form of abuse. My friend lived with this in silence for many years. It was also a topic that was taboo. It was never really brought up or discussed. I felt awkward when she told me - I remembered that we were very young then (16 YO) and I did not quite know how to deal with it either. 

Most of the time, we do have to look out for signs and rely our best judgement and gut feel. Recently, there was a case in Australia where a worker at a daycare centre was found taping kids going to the loo and such. I don't remember whether there was sexual abuse involved but the mere fact that some sicko is watching your kids that way is enough to send chills through me.

A girlfriend and I had a discussion the other day. When do we, as parents, draw the line? I tell my kids to be very afraid of strangers, of people and situations in general - and they watch me go nearly hysterical even if I miss them for a moment in a public place! Most of the time, my kids are wary. Am I making them lose their innocence too quickly? And I turning them paranoid? My friend told me that this was not such a bad thing, at least it will keep them safe... and alive.



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      wildrose
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | wildrose
Vigilant
I think world situation are change quite a lot. So, some  issue that might taboo ages ago, now become something that we need to discuss with our children.
I always told my son about body part (specially his private) that only him could touch it. No one allow to touch or hurt it. But then I told there is circumstance that other people (i.e doctor, or us parent) need to look at it when the time, if, his  body part is hurt. But always I remind him, if he hurt to tell us first.
I suppose we do this to our children, so they aware and learn, and one day they could defend themself, or understand which stranger is good which is bad. Because at the end, we will not always stay close to them (eventhough we want to).


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      Izzy
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | Izzy
Vigilant

Yes, the best thing we can do is be vigilant. And bring up smart, confident little children.

I do want to say that it's important not to scare children away from other adults. When children get in trouble, they'll have to seek another adult for help. I think the best thing to do is to teach children which adults should be trusted. Or in a school situation, maybe even tell the child which specific adults are the trusted adults.

 



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TheMentorMom
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | TheMentorMom
Wow
Wow, Izzy!  You took some great notes :)  I attended the same training last year to volunteer at my kids school.  As a former investigator of sexual abuse, you provided a comprehensive list of things to watch for.  Well done and thanks for sharing this VERY important information with the minti community.


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      Izzy
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | Izzy
Wow

Thanks TMM.  My note isn't as good as it could be. I missed some of the statistics mentioned in class. 

This is such a horrifying subject once it's happened that we all should be aware of anything and everything about preventing it in the first place.



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wildrose
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | wildrose
Be aware
Child sex abuse is one of thing that really scared me. I always watch my kids like a hawk when we took them to a park or anywhere. I told my son about bad people out there and thing that he should and shouldn't do. I ask him about it every now and then, see whether he forget or not.
One other thing, don't let your children go to toilet by him/herself. Always go with them. Sometime the predator could be in there too. I saw on the news few months ago the tragedy in Perth about the little girl die at the public toilet. So, be very careful anywhere everywhere.


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      allyp
4.68 (Excellent) | August 2006 | allyp
Be aware
wow, thats very scary i tell ya. i just can't believe that there are people out there that could harm childern. thank you for saying that other thing, once my daughter get's old enough i am going to talk to her about it. what age do you think it's approiate to do it? just wondering?


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           Izzy
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | Izzy
Start young
I think one of the things we can do is to teach that certain body parts are private and that no one else is supposed to touch them. Once the child can talk would be a good age to start. Even if it doesn't sink in, our kids will get used to hearing it at least. And as they grow older, we just keep emphasizing it.


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           wildrose
4.50 (Excellent) | August 2006 | wildrose
Be aware
I suppose it depend how understand your child does. I told about not to interact to strangers when my son was around 3 years, and told him more when he was 4ish years.


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      Izzy
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | Izzy
Be aware
You're right. We discussed restrooms and empty rooms in class too. Some restrooms are "off the beaten path" so it's quite dangerous for children to go to alone.  Empty rooms that are left unlocked are also potential dangers.


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      mcm
4.50 (Excellent) | August 2006 | mcm
Be aware
That young girl from Perth is always a reminder to me. So terrible that could happen.
My girl wants independance yet I have to explain to her that its not her I don't trust its other people.
I am trying to teach my boy now that his body his own. I tell my kids that once they are old enough they can wash themselves and no body else can touch them, not even mum or dad.


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           breezy27
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | breezy27
Be aware
this is a very bad thing to ask-but a sign of our worsening times i think-i'm from perth and i can't think of the court case you are probably thinking of. i take it that this was something major?


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                breezy27
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | breezy27
Be aware
obviously it was major-that sounded so wrong and callous. i just meant high profile type case. thought i should explain that comment, because it sounds so terrible.


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allyp
5.00 (Excellent) | August 2006 | allyp
Great information

Thanks Izzy for posting that up. It is great information to us parents can be aware. I'll be adding this to one of my favorite's, just so I can go back to it if I forget anything at all.

Thanks again!



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